A fairly small owl of lowland forest. Dark brown above with a white bar behind the shoulder, and paler and warmer brown below with black marks. Note the wide, shallow V-shape stretching from between the eyes out to the ends of the prominent ear tufts, and the dark facial shield incompletely bordered with white below. Eyes are deep orange. Similar to Mantanani Scops-Owl, which only occurs on small offshore islands off Palawan, but differs in eye color. Voice is a low rasping croak, “gruk grrrrrrrrr.”